CNN Places Second In Total Day And Primetime In July; Tops MSNBC For Third Consecutive Month

Neel Khairzada

5 years ago

CNN HAS DOUBLE DIGIT GROWTH VS. A YEAR AGO; FXNC AND MSNBC LOSE VIEWERS IN JULY

New Day Outperforms MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” 4 of the past 6 Weeks in Demo 25-54 Rating and Narrows the Gap Significantly

The Lead with Jake Tapper is #1 in Cable News in Demo 25-54 Rating

CNN.com domestic site has highest July on record for page views and video starts; U.S. mobile web posted the highest month ever for video starts

Buoyed by coverage of the crisis in Egypt, the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 and the trial of George Zimmerman, CNN’s ratings momentum continued in July with the network finishing a strong second in all key categories including Total Day, M-Sun Primetime, M-F Primetime and Daytime in both total viewers and 25-54 demo rating. For the third consecutive month, CNN had more viewers than MSNBC and for the third time in four months, CNN dominated MSNBC in the key demo 25-54 rating (MSNBC placed fourth). July represents CNN’s second best demo 25-54 rating performance this year (since Boston bombings in April, 2013).

CNN also had notable gains compared to a year ago (despite elevated audience levels a year ago amid coverage of the Aurora, CO theater shooting) posting double-digit growth in all categories while FXNC and MSNBC lost viewers in July. Every one of MSNBC’s M-F primetime programs experienced double-digit declines this month vs. a year ago. In July, FXNC continued their trend of losing viewers in the key 25-54 demo rating and for the second straight month, posted its lowest 25-54 audience since May 2006.

CNN’s newest program New Day also saw significant ratings gains compared to a year ago and topped MSNBC’s Morning Joe for four of the past six weeks in the demo 25-54 since the program launched (June 17, 2013). New Day also narrowed the gap significantly with Morning Joe this month compared to CNN programming a year ago.

CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper was the #1 show in cable news in July at 4pm in the key demo 25-54 rating.

TOTAL DAY (6a-6a):

CNN 521k total viewers (up +47% from a year ago) / 183k A25-54 (up +68% from a year ago)

New Day(6-9am): July marks the first complete month of CNN’s new morning program and it has posted strong ratings gains vs. a year ago – increasing +49% in total viewers (337k vs. 226k) and is up +34% in the demo rating 25-54 (126k vs. 94k). In addition, New Day has dramatically narrowed the gap vs. MSNBC’s Morning Joe to -2% in the demo (126k vs. 129k) and -9% in total viewers (337k vs. 372k). A year ago (July 2012) the gap between CNN programming and Morning Joe was -33% in the demo (94k vs. 140k) and -42% in total viewers (226k vs. 389k). New Day has also outperformed MSNBC’s Morning Joe for four of the past six weeks in adults 25-54.

The Lead with Jake Tapper (4pm): Ranked #1 in cable news in July in the key demo 25-54 averaging 213k, FXNC Your World with Neil Cavuto followed with 199k and MSNBC’s Martin Bashir trailed with 115k. July represents the first time since Jan 2009 that Cavuto placed second to CNN. The Lead increased +82% in the demo 25-54 (213k vs. 117k) and +42% in total viewers (702k vs. 495k) from a year ago

The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer at 5pm placed second in cable news in both total viewers and in the demo 25-54. The program increased +58% in the demo from a year ago (198k vs. 125k) while FXNC’s The Five lost -25% of its demo audience (296k vs. 396k). At 6pm The Sit Room grew +44% vs. last year in the demo 25-54 (174k vs. 121k) and +24% in total viewers (530k vs. 429k). Special Report with Bret Baier at 6pm was down -34% in the key demo in July (247k vs. 377k) and off -3% in total viewers vs. a year ago.

Erin Burnett Outfront: was also up by double digits this month – increasing +34% in the 25-54 demo rating (166k vs. 124k) and +24% in total viewers (493k vs. 396k). EBO topped 4th place Hardball with Chris Matthews in the demo (166k vs. 159k) this month, and the Fox Report with Shep Smith declined -31% in the demo 25-54 (243k vs. 351k) from a year ago.

AC 360 is the #2 ranked program in cable news at 8pm in both total viewers and the demo 25-54, and is the #1 primetime program on CNN in total viewers. Compared to a year ago, AC 360 grew at 8pm increasing +58% in the demo rating (256k vs. 162k) and +30% in total viewers (693k vs.533k), while O’Reilly is down -20% in the demo and flat in total viewers and Chris Hayes is off -15% among 25-54 and down -27% in total viewers. AC 360 continues to top Hayes by robust margins in total viewers (693k vs. 604k) and in the demo 25-54 rating (256k vs. 166k).

Piers Morgan Live was the #2 rated program at 9pm topping MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show (238k vs. 229k) in 25-54 rating. PML also grew vs. a year ago – increasing by double-digits +22% in total viewers (681k vs. 560k) and +52% in the key demo (238k vs. 157k). Maddow was down by -19% in total viewers and decreased -20% in the demo, and Hannity also lost viewers at 9pm decreasing -13% in total viewers and -19% in demo 25-54.

Anderson Cooper at 10 pm was the #2 show in cable news in both total viewers and the demo, and #1 on CNN among the key 25-54 demo rating. Anderson Cooper at 10pm grew vs. a year ago increasing +31% in total viewers (649k vs. 494k) and +50% in the demo (258k vs. 172k). On the Record was down -16% in total viewers and -19% in the demo and MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell saw the largest monthly decreases for MSNBC in primetime – down -29% in total viewers (586k vs. 831k) and down -27% in the key demo rating (185k vs. 253k).

CNN Digital

CNN.com domestic site has highest July on record for page views and video starts

U.S. mobile web posted the highest month ever for video starts

CNN.com’s domestic site had the highest July on record for page views and video starts with:

• 1.4 billion page views, up 9% over June and 11% over July 2012

• 99mm video starts, 19% over June and 15% over the previous year

• 94mm unique visitors, 5% more than June and 8% over the previous year

Additionally, CNN’s US mobile website had 361mm page views in July and 6.4mm video starts, the highest of all time.

Source: Adobe SiteCatalyst and Bango Analytics through 7/29; *Note: Historical records for page views for CNN.com go back to August 2005 and video records to July 2007.